You Chose Wrong
by Baxaronn
Summary: 20 little nuggets of information about Ryo and Principal Samejima, and their Cyber Dojo related antics. Not quite as amusing as I've made the description seem. Originally written for the 20 Kuribohs LJ community. Please enjoy.


20 Facts about Ryo Marufuji and Principal Samejima

**Title** – You Chose Wrong**  
Character(s)/Pairing** – Ryo Marufuji, Principal Samejima, and those briefly mentioned  
**Rating** – T  
**Notes** – 1) I am assuming that Ryo and Sho did not attend Duel Academy's affiliated junior high school. I say this because one of them might seem oddly worded if that is not established. 2) This was originally posted at the Livejournal community 20_Kuribohs.  
**Warnings** – Spoilers for the entire series, inconsiderate parents and some general darkiness.

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1. It was when Principal Samejima began to lose his hair that he decided he needed to find a successor to the Cyber Style, before he became too old to remember to do it.

2. The Cyber dojo, which stood upon the top of a very tall mountain, was open to people of all ages. However, only adults were expected to climb to the top if they wanted to participate. Children under twenty were brought up by helicopter.

3. The dojo itself was extremely costly to maintain, because it had to be constantly temperature and atmosphere controlled or else the little kids would all freeze and/or asphyxiate.

4. Neither the health and safety risks of a high-altitude mountain environment or the suspect arrangement of a man locking himself up thousands of miles away from any form of civilization with a bunch of children and a random smattering of adults particularly phased the Marufujis. Enough parents on the internet trusted Samejima with their kids when they sent them to his boarding school that there was no good reason to question his credibility. The point was, they really wanted a few months away from their kids, and Ryo wouldn't go to the summer camp Sho was going to because last year when they both went there they had done almost nothing but play soccer, and he hated soccer.

5. Partially to teach discipline and partially because Samejima did not want to hire extra staff to help him, the students at the dojo were responsible for chores. The kids were expected to hold their own at cleaning, but cooking had to be guided and supervised by an adult. Many a child burned their fingers while breaking the rules and trying to warm their hands by the stove after being outside (which was also against the rules.)

6. While everyone at the dojo was getting ready to leave at the end of the summer, Ryo was held back for a few minutes so Samejima could talk to him about the future of Cyber End Dragon. He told the nine year old boy that eventually, when he was much older, he would have to come back so he could find the dojo's next successor. "Aw," Ryo pouted, arms crossed and eyebrows knitted. "Can't I just give it to my brother?"

7. When his parents came to pick him up at the airport, Ryo spent the entire ride home talking about his new deck, completely forgetting that his parents knew a grand total of nothing about the game he was so enthused about, and had tuned out after the first five minutes. His little brother was listening, though, and was fascinated by every word he said.

8. Sho's Roid deck developed shortly after Ryo's Cyber deck. Their parents criticized him for being uncreative and told him not to copy people, but Ryo wasn't offended by the slight similarities. He didn't say as much because it'd be embarrassing, but he was actually flattered.

9. By the time he started middle school, Ryo had decided that the whole concept of the Cyber Dojo was a huge load of crap, and that learning to pull a card out of a duel disk did not constitute practice. Thinking about how many hours he had wasted being taught how to yell properly irked him immensely, and for the first few months of high school every time Principal Samejima greeted him he hmphed and walked away without answering.

10. Samejima noted amusedly how steadfastly his disciple refused to act during his duels, no matter how flamboyantly or enthusiastically his opponent faked their screams of pain and defeat. He suggested that it might be more fun if Ryo play along, but he held his ground. "That was fun when I was ten, but that was six years ago," he said, arms crossed and eyebrows knitted. "I…don't be offended, though, I know you like doing it that way."

11. Ryo didn't have to do much convincing to get his parents to sign the contract his manager had given him; the sooner he had money to move out of their apartment, the better. They had gotten used to being alone, they liked it, and they wanted it back. In fact, they expected him to move out within the next six months, and if he couldn't find an apartment on his own, they'd look for him.

12. It was like he had said during his last duel with Judai: Ryo no longer had any potential. He wasn't happy that he was losing so often, but he knew what his skill level was and he wasn't going to get any better. Of course he was doing badly. He would not have been surprised if his contract was dropped because of this.

13. One night, after another win in the underground circuit and another fit of convulsions, Ryo was resting at one of the tables, trying to catch his breath. In his hand was Cyber End Dragon, which he held suspended above the flickering candle flame in the center of the table. He held it there for several minutes, just far enough above that it was safe from harm, staring. Eventually he drew it away, dusted imaginary ashes off the corner, put it back in his deck, and continued watching the candle melt until the manager told him to go home.

14. Samejima liked to paint tiny Duel Monster figurines while he was watching TV, as doing them at the same time made both of them easier to pay attention to. He was painting the eyes onto a Summoned Skull when Ryo's first duel after reentering the pros came on.

15. Because the dojo had been empty for eight years, it was full of cobwebs and snow when Samejima at last returned. It had not occurred to him before that it would be this filthy, but luckily Ryo wouldn't make it to the top of the mountain for a while, so he had enough time to clean the place up a bit. During his cleaning he found a lot of random personal items (socks, toys, cards, books, things like that) kids had left behind, and when he couldn't figure out what to do with them he just dumped them in a box and shoved them in a closet.

16. Samejima was absolutely convinced Ryo had to be possessed by darkness or lightness or grayness or something when he came to him as Hell Kaiser, demanding crazy things and screaming about power and nonsense and whathaveyou. Ryo had been such a good little boy. There was no way he could act like that on his own.

17. Ryo didn't really care about the pro leagues anymore. There wasn't enough electrocution involved.

18. Ryo doesn't remember a lot about the World of Darkness. His most distinct memory, apart from the duel that killed him, was of Ed Phoenix complaining about how much taller he was than him, and how their height difference made them too conspicuous to potential attackers. Ryo wasn't entirely sure that this made sense, but he was entirely sure that he didn't care and that Ed Phoenix was a twit.

19. Over the phone Samejima was told by his doctor that he should stop drinking coffee, because as a slightly overweight middle aged man he was at risk for myocardial infarction and consuming so much caffeine would almost guarantee heart problems in the near future. At the same time, Sho was told that his brother was having emergency heart surgery, he needed to wait in the other room, and they didn't have enough time to explain why he couldn't be in there with them, sorry.

20. Ryo didn't ask for his deck back when Sho was done beating Inotsume, and when he remembered he had borrowed it and offered it back he refused to take it. "But, how are we supposed to duel in the pros together if you don't have a deck?" Sho asked, bewildered. Ryo smiled at him, and reminded him that he had said he was going to build a new deck, remember? Besides, he can't keep them anymore. He's too old.

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Comment or something, whydon'tcha? :D


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